The recommendation, which was made by Dr. John Scholten, superintendent for the Public Schools of Petoskey, included the $179,254 in savings from three layoffs the board implemented at a June 4 special meeting, as well as the $68,254 the district will save as a result of a $2 million district-wide energy-savings project they implemented earlier this year.

Additional cuts and savings that are included in Scholten's recommendation include $136,000 in federal stimulus funding to be used to offset class sizes in first and second grades, the potential $323,001 that could be saved if four teachers with 10 or more years experience take a buyout offered by the district, the elimination of one year of override at the high school, eliminating two special education positions, eliminating administrative and administrative support medical reimbursement, eliminating one full-time-equivalent secretary position, subcontracting one full-time-equivalent custodial position, reducing the textbook budget by $30,000 and reducing the building temperatures to 69 degrees.

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These cost saving measures and cuts were made to keep the district's fund balance above $2.1 million, which allows the district to continue operations without having to borrow.

Before the cuts, Kent Cartwright, chief financial officer for the district, had project an ending fund balance of $1,870,301 in 2009-10, however, after Scholten's recommendation was approved, Cartwright is now estimating that the fund balance will be around $2.7 million.

"This is a road map. This is something that hopefully will get us where we need to go," Scholten said. "Right now we're confident it's as deep as the cuts need to be, but we may find, come August or September, that we need to cut deeper … if we don't like where the road map is taking us, we redirect it and look for a different route."

Tom Rellinger, first vice-president of the school board, said the district may be doing well for now, but it could all change going forward.

"We tend to be pretty fortunate in Petoskey, you look at a lot of other districts across the state and their cuts are far more drastic than what we've had to weather," he said. "We are doing OK, but it's not going to be forever that we're going to operate like that - we just can't - it's going to hit us sooner or later too, and we see it coming more sooner than later … so hang in there with us."

During the meeting, the board also unanimously approved a wage freeze for both Scholten and the district's administrative staff.

"We asked the administrators to look at a wage freeze and they voluntarily agreed to accept … it's a show of good faith I think that they are willing to do this, and Dr. Scholten's willing to do it," said Jack Waldvogel, president of the school board. "In view of the budget situation this year, and an even worse situation next year, we appreciate that they're willing to participate in a wage freeze at this time.

"We're saddened this even has to come up … we don't know what else to do."

On a lighter note, the board added a staff member its district when they voted unanimously to hire Julie Bergmann, out of a pool of 62 applicants, to become assistant principal for Petoskey High School.

Bergmann has been a science teacher for the district for the past seven years, and said she was excited to take on the challenge.

"I see this as a service position - it's service to the staff , it's service to the students and it's service to the community as a whole, so I thank you as a board for this opportunity to serve," she said. "I also want to thank my family for their encouragement and support in allowing me to follow my dreams, and my promise to them is I'm going to pay this forward … I'm going to do that for the students at Petoskey High School and really make sure that I'm paying attention to the dreams that they have, and encouraging and supporting them too."

Jim Kanine, former assistant principal for the high school and recently hired principal, said he is thrilled to have Bergmann as a partner.

"Julie had an excellent interview - she was clearly my top choice," he said. "She brings so many skills and strengths that balance my weaknesses."

Mary Ling, treasurer for the school board, said she is interested to see what Kanine and Bergmann have in store for the school.

"I'm very excited for the future of Petoskey High School with our two new leaders," she said.

Other happenings at the board meeting:

- The board voted unanimously to award MDC Contracting, LLC of Charlevoix the job of updating Curtis field with their low bid of $32,250. The company will be rebuilding the retaining wall near the track, grating the parking lot, re-roofing the press box and fencing the bleachers in for safety.